Petau, Denis

, perhaps better known by his classical
appellation of Dionysius Petavius, was born at Orleans
Aug. 21, 1583. His father, Jerome Petau, although a
merchant, was a man of considerable literature, and rather
more attentive to matters of taste than of commerce: the
consequence of which was, that he left very little property
to his children, six sons and two daughters. He gave them
all, however, a learned education; the daughters as well
as the sons being taught Latin and Greek, and able to write
verses in both languages. But we find, that with all his
learning, Jerome was a superstitious bigot to his religion;
which his biographer, father Oudin, as warm a zealot as
himself, says was at one time in danger of being shaken by
some of his Protestant friends, who were very numerous in
Orleans. Nay, he was, according to Oudin, about to renounce Popery altogether, and retire with his family, when
an extraordinary accident prevented his design. A part
of his house tell down, and so frightened him, that, while
he lay buried under the ruins, he made a vow, that if ever
| he escaped, he would break off all acquaintance with the
Protestants; and being dug out alive and unhurt, he kt-pt
his vow, and endeavoured to give his children the *ame
dislike to the Protestant faith as he had formerly determined
to give them to the Roman Catholic.

As he perceived in his second son, Denis, a more than
ordinary capacity, as well as eagerness for knowledge, he
paid particular attention to the formation of his taste and
the direction of his studies; and often told him, that he
should lay up such a fund of knowledge, as to be able to
cope with “the giant of the Allopbyloe,” as he called Sealiger, whose learning and works were of such importance
to the Protestants. This advice was not thrown away on
Denis, who studied, with the greatest diligence, both at
Orleans and Paris j and when he came to take his degree
of master of arts, supported a thesis in Greek; a language
which he knew as intimately as Latin, and both more so
than he knew French. For two years he heard the lectures
of the most eminent doctors of the Sorbonne, in his time;
and was so assiduous, that he never left his study, unless
for the king’s library, where he was permitted to consult
the valuable Greek and Latin manuscripts. About this
time he became acquainted with the learned Isaac Casaubon, whom Henry IV. had invited to Paris in 1600, and
their friendship continued until Casaubon’s departure for
England, and, what hurt Petau most, his departure from
Popery, after which he treated him with as much asperity,
as any other of his opponents. In the mean time, it was in
consequence of Casaubon’s advice, that, young as he was,
he undertook to prepare for the press an edition of the
whole works of Synesius; that is, to collate manuscript
copies, to translate what was in Greek, and to add explanatory notes. He had no sooner undertaken this work,
than he was promoted to the professorship of philosophy in
the university of Bourges, when only in his nineteentn year.
The course which this office enjoined him to teach lasted
two years, during which he also read the ancient philosophers and mathematicians.

In the second year of his being at Bourges, Frederick
Morel, Grerk professor at Paris, brought out a complete
edition of the works of Dio Chrysostom, and inserted a
discourse of Synesius, translated by Petau, who was not
sorry to have this opportunity of sounding the taste of the
public on the merits of his translation. In the title are the
| words Interprete Dionysio P<eto, the name he assumed
some time before this. Hitherto his intention had been to
enter the church; and he was already subdeacon, and had
been preferred to a canonry in the cathedral of Orleans.
He had never yet seen the Jesuits; but having become
acquainted with the nature of their order, when at Bourges,
partly from inclination, and partly from the persuasions of
the learned Fronto Ducaeus, he entered as a noviciate
among them at Nancy, in June 1605. After two years of
probation, he studied for two years longer at the college of
Pont-a-Mousson, then very flourishing. Thence he was sent
to Rheims, where, for three years, he taught rhetoric.
In 1610, he did the honours of the college at the consecration of LouisXIII.

Notwithstanding these employments, and the production
of some occasional pieces in prose and verse, which they
required, he was enabled to publish his edition of Synesius in 1612; but, as he was absent from the press, it suffered much by the carelessness and ignorance of the printers; and even the second edition, of 1631, retains a great
many of the errors of the first. It gave the learned, however, an opportunity of knowing what was to be expected
from the talents, diligence, and learning, of father Petau;
and they entertained hopes which were not disappointed.
During the years 1613, 1614, and 1615, he taught rhetoric
in the college of La Fleche, in Anjou; and, in the first of
these years, he published some works of the emperor Julian, which had hitherto remained in ms. and announced
his intention of publishing an edition of Themistius, the
Greek orator and sophist. In 1614, when the college of
La Flche was visited by LouisXIII. with the queen mother and the whole court, he contributed many of the
complimentary verses on the occasion; which, as we shall
notice, were afterwards published. In the mean time, he
undertook an edition of Nicephorus’s historical abridgment, which had never been printed either in Greek or
Latin. In this he was assisted with the copy of a valuable
manuscript, which father Sjrmond sent to him from Rome.
In 1617, the Biblical professor of La Flche being removed
to another charge, Petau supplied his place, until called to
Paris by order of his superiors, to be professor of rhetoric.
It was about this time that he was attacked by that violent
fever, which he has so well described in his poem entitled
“Soteria;” a circumstance scarcely worth mentioning, if
| it had not been connected with an instance uf superstition,
which shews that his father’s prejudices had acquired possession of his mind. During this fever, and when in apparent danger, his biographer tells us, he made a vow to St.
Genevieve, and the fever left him. The object of his vow
was a tribute of poetical thanks to his patroness and deliverer. In order to perform this as it ought to be performed,
he waited until his mind had recovered its tone but he
waited too long, and the fever seized him again, as a re- 1
membrance of his neglect. Again, however, St. Genevieve restored him; and, that he might not hazard her
displeasure any more, he published his “Soteria,” in 1619,
which the connoisseurs of that time thought his chef (Taeuvre in poetry; and his biographer adds, that “it is in Virgil only we can find lines so completely Virgilian.” The remainder of his life was spent in performing the several offices of his order, or in those publications, a list of which will prove the magnitude of his labours. He died at Paris, December 11, 1652, in the sixtyninth year of his age. He seems, by the general consent, not only of the learned men of his communion, but of
many Protestants, to have been one of the greatest scholars the Jesuits can boast: and would have appeared in the
eyes of posterity as deserving of the highest character, had
not his turn for angry controversy disgraced his style, and
shown, that with all his learning and acuteness, he did not
rise superior to the bigotry of his time. We have a striking
instance of this, in his connection with Grotius. He had,
at first, such a good opinion of that illustrious writer, as to
think him a Roman Catholic in heart; and on his death,
said a mass for his soul; but some time after, writing to
cardinal Barberini, he uses these remarkable words: “I
had some connection with Hugo Grotius, and I wish I could
say he is nmc happy /”

The catalogue of the works of Petau affords an uncommon proof of diligence; for we are assured, that besides
the labour of composing, compiling, &c. he transcribed
every thing with his own hand for the press, and employed
no amanuensis or reader to assist him. Among his works
are: 1. “Synesii Dio, vel de ipsius vitae institute,” mentioned already as published in Morel’s edition of St. Chrysostom. 2. “Panegyricus Ludovico XIII. Francix et Navarrx regi, &c. in natalem diem,” &c. 1610, 12mo.
3. “De laudibus Henrici magni carmen,” &c. 1&10,
| 4. “Oratio de laudibus Henrici magni,” Rheims, 1611,
4to. 5. “Synesii Opera,” Paris, 1612 1633, 3 vols. folio. 6. “Julian! imperatoris orationes tres panrgyricaD,”
Flexise (La Fieche), 1613, 8vo. 7. “Themistii Orationes
septemdecim. Gr. Lat.” ibid. 1613, 8vo. 8. “Tragce iia,
Carthaginienses,” ibid. 1614, 8vo, a tragedy in the manner
of Seneca, which it was then the fashion to imitate.
9. “Pompa regia Ludovici XIII” &c. a collection of the
complimentary verses on the royal visit to La Fieche, mentioned before, 1614, 4to. 10 “Nicephori Breviariuin
Historicum,” Gr. et Lat.“Paris, 1616, 8vo. 11.” Themistii, cognomento Suadae, orationes novemdecim, Gr et
Lat.“ibid. 1618, 4to. 12.” Soteria ad S. Genov-fam,“ibid. 1619, 4to, his votive poem to St. Genevieve. 13. Another, in praise of the same saint,” Panegyricus in S Genevefam,“ibid. 1619, 4to. 14.” D. Petavii Orationes,“ibid. 1620, 1622, 1624, 8vo. 15.” D. Petavii Opera Poetica,“ibid. 1621, 8vo, reprinted at least three times. 16.” Office de S. Genevieve,“ibid. 1621, 16mo. 17. Epiphanii
Opera omnia,” ibid. 1622, 2 vols. folio, reprinted at Cologn 1682. In April following the publication of this work,
Salmasius took occasion to attack Petau, in his edition of
the “Pallio” of Tertullian, and certainly not in very respectful language. Petau’s biographer says he ought to
have taken no notice of such an attack, as in that case his
silence would have completely disconcerted Salmasius, a
man who could not exist without a quarrel with some contemporary; or, at all events, Petau should have been content with a short answer to such an opponent. Perhaps
Petau might have been pf this opinion, if he had not considered that Salmasius was a Protestant, and regarded by
Protestants as the man who would one day supply the loss
of Joseph Scaliger; and he was not therefore sorry to have
this opportunity, not only to defend himself against Salmasius, but to attack him in his turn. He published, accordingly, 18. “Animadversionum liber,” under the fictitious name of Antonius Kerkoetius Aremoricus, and die
fictitious place of “Rhedonis apud Yvonem Halecium,”
i.e. “Parisiis, apud Sebast. Cramoisy,” 1622, 8vo. This
brought on an angry controversy, in which Salmasius certainly had some advantages, from his superior knowledge
of the manner of handling the weapons of controversy;
and perhaps we may be permitted to say, from his having
the, better cause to support. Petau’s pamphlets, on this
| casion, were entitled “Mastigophores,” and consisted of
three, and a supplement, published in 162:5 and 1624.
But we hasten to his more important chronological
works, uhich, of all others, preserve his memory in our
times: 19. “Opus de doctrina Temporum,” Paris, 1627,
2 vols. folio, reprinted, with additions from his own copy,
Amst. 170:3, folio. 20. “Uranologion, sive systema variorum authorum, qui de sphaera ac sideribus, eorumque
motibus Grasce commentati sunt,” ibid. 163O, folio,“intended as a supplement to his” Doctrina temporum“to
which an additional volume was published, with dissertations from the Mss. of Petau and Sirmond, in 1703, folio.
21.” Tabulue Chronologicae Regum, Dynastarum, Urbium,
&c. a mundo coridito, &c. &c.“ibid. 1628, on large
sheets, and often reprinted: the best edition is that of
Vesel, 1702. 22.” Rationarium Temporum,“ibid. 1633,
12mo. the best known and most useful of all his works, and
long the standard book in all seminaries and private libraries, for chronology and history. It was consequently
often reprinted, improved, and enlarged, not only by the
author, but by various other editors. There are two editions, printed at Leyden in 1724 and 1745, 2 vols. 8vo,
which are said to be the best. Besides these, and many
other works of inferior importance enumerated by his biographer, Petau published a considerable number of theological pieces, which have sunk into oblivion, except perhaps his” Theologica dogmata,“Paris, 1G44, 5 vols. folio;
reprinted more correctly at Antwerp, 1700, 3 vols. folio.
Of this work, Bayle has observed, that Petavius did the
Socinians great service, though unawares, and against his
intentions and quotes the following passage from the” Lettres Choisies“of Mr. Simon” If there be any thing
to censure in Petavius’s works, it is chiefly in the second
tome of his “Dogmata Theologica,” in which he seems to
favour the Arians. It is true, that he softened those passages in his preface; but as the body of the work continues
entire, and the preface, which is an excellent piece, came
afterwards, it has not entirely prevented the harm which
that book is like to do at this time, when the new Unitarians
boast, that father Petavius declared for them.“Baylo
thinks he has resolved this, by informing us that Petavius’s
original design, in the second volume of his” Dogmata
Theologica,“was, to represent ingenuously the doctrine
of the three first centuries. Having no particular system
| to defend, he did not disguise the opinions of the fathers;
but acknowledged that some of them entertained false and
absurd notions concerning the Trinity. All this, however,
either from fear, or upon better consideration, he retracted, and published a” Preface,“in which he laboured
solely to asseYt the orthodoxy of the fathers. The” Dogmata Theologica of Petavius,“says Gibbon,” is a work of
incredible labour and compass: the volumes which relate
solely to the incarnation (two folios of 837 pages) are divided into sixteen books: the first of history, the remainder of
controversy and doctrine.“” The Jesuit’s learning,“adds
our infidel historian,” is copious and correct: his Latinity
is pure, his method clear, his argument profound and well
connected: but he is the slave of the fathers, the scourge
of heretics, and the enemy of truth and candour, as often
as they are inimical to the Catholic cause." 1

1

Life by Oudin, in —Niceron, vol. XXXVII. Batesii Vitas Selectorur*
Virorum. Dupin. Burigny’s Life of Grotius. Gibbon’s History. Sawi
Onomasticon.

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